Halo 4: Fireteam Crimson
by James S-310
Summary: Here's my take of my own Crimson team, watch their adventures on the planet Requiem as they take on impossible odds against the Covenant and the Prometheans while their simple mission turns out to become a mission to prevent the destruction of mankind once again. (Yes, it takes place during Spartan Ops) Story's better than the summary. Please R&R *thumbs up* :)
1. Welcome to Crimson

**Halo 4: Fireteam Crimson**

It's been four years since the Human-Covenant war. But yet humanity faced a new threat that was discovered six months ago by the UNSC's best ship: The UNSC Infinity. Now this ship has been tasked with the mission to eliminate certain Covenant forces that returned to the planet discovered by Infinity: Requiem.

For the success of the mission, the UNSC authorized the re-use of the SPARTAN IV Program, now many teams are being instructed to board the Pelicans on Earth and get to the Infinity. These teams assigned to the Infinity are Fireteams Lancer, Switchback, Ivy, Castle, Kodiak, Apex, Mountain, Shadow, Domino, Sword, Tower, Horse, Forest, Majestic and Crimson.

Inside the Infinity, many Pelicans landed on the docking bay, each brining their own Spartan Fireteams. And this story centers on the crew of the Pelican that had a Red Spider symbol…this is the Fireteam Crimson. Unlike the other teams that have members of four or five, Crimson consist of only three Spartans:

James-310: The leader of the team. He has short black hair, dark eyes, light skin and a slight scar beneath the right eye, his specializations consist of being a high skilled Sniper and Shocktrooper besides leading the squad.

Sam-140: The pilot of the team, she may be the youngest of the group but that doesn't mean she's not ready for battle. She has brown hair of medium size, she has blue eyes and bright skin. Her intelligence and experience on foreign technology made her the second in command of the team.

Gregory-655: The infiltration expert of the team. He has short dark hair, dark eyes, a small beard beneath the jaw and dark skin. He runs the Recon missions and he's been considered a real grenade man in every battle simulation.

When the three members of Crimson exited the Pelican, they contemplated the inside of the biggest ship of the human fleet.

-"Hmm, it's good to be back." Gregory affirmed.

-"Yeah, what's been now, almost ten months since we left this place?" Sam added.

-"It's been eight, actually." James said.

-"And still, you weren't able to get the Master Chief's autograph when he was on board." Greg said.

-"I missed my shot, I will get an autograph from the legendary 117 and I'll show it on your face." James said.

-"You're such a geek sometimes, James." Sam joked.

-"Watch it, sis. I'm your Superior." James joked back and Sam only chuckled.

-"All right, Crimson. Form up, we'll wait for instructions." James ordered.

Soon Sam noticed a woman approaching them and she immediately recognize her.

-"Guys! That's Commander Sarah Palmer!" Sam whispered.

-"What? You mean THE Commander Palmer?" James whispered back.

-"Wow…And I just had to shave my hair today." Gregory applied.

-"Knock it off, Greg." James whispered and gave Greg a light punch in his arm. Soon Palmer was in front of them.

-"Fireteam Crimson, commander on deck!" James yelled and then he and his team performed a military salute.

-"At ease, Spartans." Palmer ordered.

-"Huh, it's good to see some Spartans still take thing seriously. Unlike Fireteam Majestic…you made a very good introduction to yourselves. I expect you will keep impressing me on the battlefield…follow the other teams to the S-deck. Your order will be given briefly." Palmer ordered.

-"Yes, ma'am!" All the Spartans from Crimson said. When Palmer left, Crimson proceeded to their destination.

-"Cool! First day on the Infinity and we receive a flattery." Greg commented.

-"Of course, with my leadership, why not?" James affirmed.

-"Oh, you're a knucklehead." Sam said as she rolled her eyes.

When they reached the S-deck. Every Spartan was already being armored up and Crimson wouldn't stay out of it.

-"Okay, Crimson. Get ready for the party." James said so he and his team were ready. Greg's armor was a full Pioneer armor with GV-09 Locking forearms and Recruit Legs while his visor was black. His colors are black with yellow stripes.

Sam's armor was an Aviator helmet, Recon Chest armor, EVA shoulders, Outer-Plated Forearms, XG-89 Narrow and her visor silver. Her colors are brown with cyan stripes.

James' armor was a Recruit helmet, Aviator Chest Armor, Air Assault shoulders, XV-27 Shifting Forearms, LG-50 Bulk legs and his visor blue. His colors are red with blue stripes. As they were armoring up, Commander Palmer gave her speech:

-"Ladies and… other Spartans, listen up! Your new workplace is a planet first discovered by humanity six months ago called Requiem. Some of the old hands here know what you're in for. The rest of you… you're due for an education. The eggheads upstairs wants to set up research bases. But before they can do that, we need to fend off some Covenant squatters. The Covies… they believe that this is the home of one of their gods. The way I see it? If those freaks want to meet god, it's our duty to help them along!" Commander Palmer said and soon Crimson was already armored up.

-"Well said, commander." Greg said about the commander's speech.

-"Okay, Crimson, get on the Pelican. We have some Covie heads to knock." James ordered.

-"We're right behind ya, boss." Sam replied.

When the Infinity arrived to Requiem, they found an entire Covenant fleet surrounding the planet's orbit. Soon many Pelicans descended from the bays of the Infinity.

_-"This is Crimson-One, we're entering Requiem's Atmosphere, descend on five secs and…got it! We're in hang on." _The pilot of the Pelican informed.

-"Hold your helmets, Crimson. This is gonna get loud!" James yelled as the Pelican descended into Requiem.

When they entered the atmosphere of the planet. They could see the inside of Requiem through the Pelican's windows.

-"A whole metallic planet and its interior looks like a desert. How can that be?" Sam asked.

-"You're the tech expert, you tell me." Greg said and soon the Pelican started to land on the designated LZ.

-"Get weapons, Crimson. We have 15 seconds before the land." James said as he grabbed his trusty Assault Rifle and Magnum, a pair of Frag grenades. Also he was checking his latest armor upgrade. The Thurster Pack.

Greg armed himself with a DMR, a Magnum and a pair of Frag grenades.

Finally Sam armed herself with only a Magnum, a pair of frag grenades and placed a jetpack on her back.

-"Only a pistol?" Greg asked.

-"Yup." Sam said.

-"You're gonna need something with more power, you know?" James suggested.

-"Fifty credits that I can finish the mission while just using this. What do you say, Big Daddy?" Sam said.

-"Get ready to lose your salary, little girl." James said as he chuckled and Greg was trying to hold a laughter.

-"Don't even…" Sam threatened Greg.

-"Okay, Crimson. Let's go!" James ordered as his team exited the Pelican.

**To be continued…**


	2. Landing on the Land Grab

**Chapter 2: Landing on the Land Grab**

As soon as Crimson set their boots on the ground, the found themselves in a desert that leaded to a great canyon. Fortunately the LZ was fully resupply not only with weapons and ammo, but also with vehicles like Warthogs or Mongooses.

-"Okay…listen up, Crimson. I just received the orders from Spartan Jared Miller, our mission's to eliminate all enemy forces around the canyon and destroy three generators. This is an easy task Crimson, so it shouldn't take us long." James instructed his team.

-"Any details of what are we facing, sir?" Sam asked but James only turned his sight at Greg.

-"The Recon drones didn't recovered much, all we know is that they have the standard infantry, many Lizards and a few Generals. Last thing we got was they have heavy weaponry and mobile power. I could've gather some more but the drone was shutdown." Greg informed.

-"Then that means we got snipers on the game…I recommend fast movement to proceed, sir." Sam suggested.

-"Recommendation accepted, Sam. Everyone, on the Warthog." James said as he entered the driver's seat.

-"I call shotgun!" Sam exclaimed as she seated on the passenger's seat.

-"In position!" Greg said as he got on the Hog's turret. Soon James hit the metal and drove into the way of the canyon, as soon as they turned the corner they spotted three Grunt Squads.

-"Enemy contacts! Weapons hot!" James ordered and while he drove the Warthog on circles surrounding the enemy, Sam and Greg took out any Grunt they had.

-"Greg, on your six!" James yelled.

-"Got it!" Greg said as he turned the turret around and shot at the Grunt that tried to shot him with a Needler.

-"Cover me, I'm reloading!" Sam exclaimed as she searched for a new Mag ofor her pistol.

-"Covering!" James said and while he used his right arm to keep the Hog steady, he grabbed his Magnum with his left arm and shot two Grunts in the head. Then Sam noticed a fuel barrel standing near a Shade turret and she took the shot at it, making the Shade blow away.

-"Ha! That'll…Whoa! EMP charge!" Sam exclaimed when she spotted a Grunt holding its Plasma Pistol's trigger until it made an EMP charge and blasted it away and it hit Crimson's warthog. Then the vehicle stopped moving and it wasn't working.

-"C'mon! Work, damn it!" James exclaimed while he tried to restart the Warthog but then he saw Three Elites running to their position and they threw Plasma grenades.

-"CRIMSON. OUT!" James yelled so the three Spartans jumped out of the Hog before it exploded by the grenades. Then James used his Thurster Pack to get faster to one of the Elites and tackled it to the ground and stabbed his knife in its jaw.

Before the other Two Elites could do anything, they received a strong hit and their shields failed, soon their vision turned black when they felt a sharp pain on their heads, meaning Sam and Greg shot at them in the head. The remaining Grunts saw in horror how their leaders were down and they proceeded to run away but they all fell when Greg used his DMR and blew their faces away.

-"Headshot. I'm such a pro." Greg said showing off.

-"I did one too." Sam said.

-"But mines are better." Greg said.

-"One of these days, Greg…you're gonna regret to be such an egotistical guy." James said.

-"What now?" Sam asked.

-"We need to keep moving." Greg said.

-"And I know how. Sam, can you pilot a Wraith?" James asked when he spotted a Wraith.

-"Sure thing, sir." Sam responded and she ran into the Covenant tank's cabin.

-"Good think I was train to interact with enemy technology." Sam thought to herself as she started the Wraith.

-"Okay, I'll go on the turret. Greg, you climb on the back of the tank and keep an eye out for any snipers." James ordered.

-"Yes, sir." Greg said.

A minute later, Crimson reached the end of the canyon and spotted a battalion of the Covenant, needless to say that there were six snipers on both sides of the canyon flanking Crimson. Sam drove the Wraith slowly into the enemy camp to pretending they're a Covie squad returning from patrolling, but since James was on the turret position, he could be sighted so James kept his head down until they were near the exact position to attack.

-"Okay, time to work. You ready, Sam?" James asked.

-_"Ready."_ Sam said through the comms channel.

-"Greg. Coordinates." James ordered so Greg looked over at the enemy camp.

-"Fifteen meters, elevation of 80 degrees." Greg said.

-_"I'm on it!" _Sam said and she fired away the blast of the Wraith, hitting a good squad of Grunts and Jackals.

-"GO LOUD!" James said as he got back on firing position and started to shoot at the Elites he found.

While Sam and James were using the tank's firepower. Greg used the element of surprise as he was still hanging from the back of the Wraith, using his DMR he shot out many Grunts and Jackals. Then he saw two missed shots near his team's position, the shots of a Beam Rifle meaning the snipers are flanking them.

-"James, Three o' clock!" Greg warned and James looked at his right and ducked before the sniper shot hit his head. Then he went back to firing position again and shot out the sniper.

-"Nicely done, Greg. Boots on the ground and flank the other snipers. We'll be the diversion." James said.

-"Understood, sir." Greg said and he ran into the darkest part of the canyon so he wouldn't be sighted. Then while the Jackal snipers were trying to shoot at the rogue Wraith. Greg took the opportunity to take 'em all down.

_-"Phantom inbound!"_ Sam warned through comms.

-"Drop pods incoming!" Greg warned too.

-"Get ready for a massive kick ass, Crimson!" James said and then two packs of Hunters landed and they were aiming at the Wraith.

-"Hey Sam." James said.

-_"Yes, sir?"_ Sam asked waiting for an instruction.

-"Looks like the Covies want their tank back, what do you say we give it back to them?" James suggested.

-_"Let's do it, with a plus if that's okay sir."_ Sam said.

-"Of course." James said so he exited the turret position to be just standing on top of the tank. Sam used the Wraith's boost to get closer to the Hunters and she opened the pilot cabin and threw her frag grenades inside as the tank was still moving. Soon both Spartans jumped out of the Wraith as it got close to the Hunters, just before the big creatures were loading up their plasma blasts the Wraith exploded taking both Hunters out.

-"Yes!" Sam exclaimed and she made a fist-bump with her leader.

-"Guys, I need assistance!" Greg said. Then both Spartans ran to their teammate's position and covered him.

-"About time, fire in the hole!" Greg exclaimed as he threw a grenade near five Grunts.

-"Good throw." Sam exclaimed and she used her jetpack and flied above three Jackals and threw a grenade near them, the Jackals didn't have time to react and they flew away because of the explosion, when she landed she shot two Jackals on their heads.

-"Keep pushing, Crimson!" James said as he was firing his Assault Rifle at two Elite Generals, one of them was evading James' shots so he took the advantage to rush against the Spartan when he was reloading but James hit him with the back of his weapon making the Elite's shields to get down. Then James fired his automated weapon and successfully killing the Elite. But the other one had a powerful weapon, it was a Fuel Rod Cannon. And the Elite was aiming at Sam who finished assassinating a Grunt.

-"Look out!" James yelled and he used his Thurster Pack and tackled Sam out of the firing line of the Rod Cannon.

-"Nice safe, sir." Sam said.

-"Thanks, but we need to finish this now." James said as he stood up and help Sam up.

Greg was shooting at the Elite with his DMR but its shields were protecting it.

Soon the three Spartans manage to kill the Elite by shooting it until it fell down.

-"Enemy reinforcements." James said as a Phantom brought four more Hunters. James loaded his Assault Rifle but he received a transmission from Infinity.

_-"James, this is Commander Palmer. I believe you and your team could use some toys?" _Palmer said.

-"We would really appreciate it, Commander." James said.

-_"Received. Dalton! Crimson could use some resupply." _Commander Palmer said.

-_"That can be arranged, Commander." _Spartan Dalton said and then three drop pods full of Rocket Launchers.

-"Crimson, get the launchers!" Greg said and soon they got the Launchers and shot everything they got at the Hunters. Once the monsters were down Crimson had one last objective before going home.

-"All right Crimson, let's find those generators." James said.

-"I already took care of them, sir." Greg said and he pressed a detonator and soon the generator that was at the end of the canyon blew up, and two more explosions appeared through the way Crimson came from.

-"No need to thank me." Greg said and James only gave him a thumbs up.

-"Infinity, this is Spartan James-310 from Fireteam Crimson. The generators have been disabled and the enemy forces neutralized." James informed.

-_"Well done, Crimson. I'll inform Commander Palmer." _ Spartan Miller said.

-_"Commander, Crimson completed their mission." _Miller informed.

-_"Already?"_ Palmer said surprised and all the Spartans of Crimson had a small grin beneath their helmets.

_-"Very well. Dalton, Get Crimson a ride home." _Palmer ordered.

-_"You go it, Commander." _Dalton said.

-"Okay Crimson, let's get back to the LZ." James said and then Sam noticed something moving behind James and Greg.

-"WATCH OUT!" Sam yelled as she tackled her teammates, then she turned around and her pistol was cut in half, then an Elite Zealot appeared in front of her but before he could raise its Energy Sword, Greg punched the Elite on the face and James kicked it to the ground and finally stabbed his knife in the Elite's left eye, killing it.

-"That was close. Thanks for the save, Sam." Greg said.

-"No problem, but this is a problem." Sam said as she looked at her sliced pistol.

-"Well, you lost the weapon so…" James said teasing her.

-"Don't say it…" Sam warned.

-"…Looks like you owe me 50 credits." James said.

-"He said it." Greg applied and Sam gave him a small punch in his back.

-"Well, we can get something from this guy." James said as he was looking for anything useful from the Elite's corpse. He found what it looked like the active cammo device.

-"Greg, take this it might come in handy." James said as he gave Greg his new armor ability.

-"Much Appreciate, sir." Greg said. Then James found a Plasma Pistol and a Storm Rifle.

-"Hey Sam, You might want these." James said as he handed the weapons to Sam.

-"Cool! Thanks, boss." Sam said. And James finally found one last thing.

-"Hehe, this is for me!" James said as he got himself the Energy Sword.

-"Showoff." Greg said.

-"Look who's talking." James said and then he saw something near the Elite's corpse it was like two silver cubes with an orange light from its corners.

When the Pelican arrived to the LZ, Crimson team retreaded and went back into the Infinity. Then James gave Sam the cubes he found.

-"I want you to find what you can about that." James ordered.

-"Yes sir." Sam said and then the Pelican landed on the Infinity.

**To be continued…**


	3. Through Sniper alley

**Chapter 3: Through Sniper alley**

Crimson's next mission was to discover a secret Covenant activity on the place many Spartans called _Sniper Alley. _As soon as Fireteam Crimson reached the beginning point, they loaded their weapons.

-"All right, Crimson. Our mission's today is to discover what the Covenant are up to here. This may be a little tougher since Infinity's Intel discovered that the Covies have this place well protected." James ordered to the team.

-"Orders to proceed, sir?" Greg asked and his leader only looked up in front to the direction of their objective.

-"Since you're the Recon Expert, you'll take the point and try to find anything you can about what those freaks are doing. Sam and I will cover you from mid distance." Then Greg nodded and used his new Active Cammo and sneaked through the Covies, James and Sam were only a few steps of distance from him but on higher ground of the structures and always keeping their heads down. James made the halt sign and then he and Sam proceeded slower.

-"Just keep moving, we don't wanna caught the attention. Stay frosty."

Sam took only a four seconds to watch the environment around her.

-"Greg, what do you see?" Greg stopped his tracks into what it looked like an important point of the whole road. The rest of the way was blocked by what it looked like a great shield, to make his report he'll have to whisper so no one will hear him.

-"Not much, Sam. Everything here's locked up, the path's blocked by some sort of shield." Following his teammate's report. James used his visor's zoom to look at the shield.

-"Copy that. The infantry?" Then Greg looked at the enemies on the field.

-"Same ol'. High number of midgets, eight shielded freaks approximately…and three Ultras." Soon a Grunt was having some sort of problem with its Plasma Pistol and suddenly it blasted an EMP blast and it hit on Greg's leg, making his active cammo fail momentarily. An Elite made a sound that none of the three Spartans understood but it sounded as an attack order. Before the Elite could do something, James and Sam jumped from the structure's high ground.

-"Contact!" James fired his Assault Rifle and eliminated the Elite's shields and proceeded to punch him so hard that it snapped its neck. Then all the enemies in the area started to attack. Sam kicked one of the Jackals down and shot at it with the Plasma Pistol James gave her on the last mission. She managed to create an automated battery for both her Plasma Pistol and her Storm Rifle so the energy would never end. But it would take only two minutes to cool the system and reload the energy.

-"Stay together, Crimson! Don't spray and pray, select your shots!" James ordered and there were only a squad of Grunts and one Elite. Sam noticed something that looked like a console for the shield.

-"James, I think I found the way to bypass the shield. I would accept any cover." James looked into the direction Sam was pointing.

-"Acknowledged. Greg, we'll protect the lady while she finds us a ticket out of this dead end. Follow my lead." Greg nodded while he was reloading his DMR. Sam managed to run into the console's location.

-"I've reached the device, cover me." Hearing their teammate request, James and Greg stood behind Sam while she was trying to find the code to low the shields. The Covies knew what they were up to so they tried to flank all sides, The Elite tried to run and punch the Spartans away but Greg kicked it away knocking it out.

-"Sam…make it quick!" hearing Greg's opinion, Sam was trying to find the code. The Covies really wanted to keep this shield up.

-"Come on…com on…come on!" She tried to keep figuring out, James threw a grenade near the remaining Grunts and made them blow away. Only the Elite was left but Sam finally found what she was looking for.

-"There! Finally got it!" Soon the shield was down and before Crimson could go into the next target they heard a roaring, the Elite regain consciousness and James looked at it.

-"One more!" Then Crimson fired their weapons at the same time and all of their shots hit on the Elite. It was dead within seconds.

-"Ha!" Greg exclaimed and then Crimson headed for the next area.

James noticed that to proceed to the exit of the structure, another shield must be taken down.

-"All right, same drill as before." This time they didn't use the stealth element but engaged the enemy as a distraction so Sam can reach the other console. Greg took cover and armed three frag grenades.

-"Chew on this!" He threw the grenades near the Jackals attacking him. The shielded freaks blew away and one of them collided with a Grunt. James kept shooting his Assault Rifle killing any Grunt or Elite that was coming near his position.

-"How we doin', Sam?" Sam took less time on de-activating the shield, she supposed that the code that de-activated the last shield would work with the current one…she was right.

-"Got it!" James nodded at his teammate's news and proceeded to help Greg take down the remaining enemies.

-"Thanks for the assist." James bumped fists with Greg.

-"Anytime, brother." Then the exit of the structure was cleared so Crimson only had to cross that path, but before doing so. Three Jackal Snipers came on sight.

-"Snipers! Crimson, get to cover!" James ordered and he evaded one shot from one of them. Greg loaded his DMR once again.

-"I got this!" Greg shot three shots and all of 'em landed on the snipers' skull. When they continued their way, James took a glance back at the road behind them.

-"I wonder what was so important for the Covenant to guard with a whole barricade?" Greg came to think of his leader's commentary.

-"Guarding some gear maybe…" Sam agreed with Greg's supposition but what would be the use of that gear? Then she received a transmission from Spartan Miller about the Covies' gear.

_-"They're siphoning power from the structure." _

-"That makes some sense." Sam commented and then Miller gave her and her team their new objective. James looked at the direction of their destination.

-"Okay, let's finish this Crimson!" Sam and Greg nodded and eliminated all the enemies they found in their way, soon they reached their respective target. Then Miller gave his report.

_-"Commander Palmer, Crimson's reached the target." _

_-"Once again, Spartans do in 24 minutes what Marines can't do in 24 hours. Dalton, I need a decent-sized explosive launched from Infinity on Crimsons mark."_

_-"I can arrange that, Commander."_

Crimson kept fighting the enemies that were guarding the gear that took the power from the structure, then a Phantom approached.

-"Phantom inbound!" Sam warned and Crimson took cover behind rocks. Sam looked at the Phantom delivering more enemy troops.

-"We're so close, we have to keep up!" James and Greg nodded, then Greg threw a Plasma grenade that stuck in a Grunt's foot. Soon it blew up and took half of the squad with it. There were only a few Grunts and Jackals left, alongside a Zealot Elite. The Elite stood forward and ignited its Energy Sword, James made a glare at it and stood in front of his team.

-"Sam, Greg…take care of the generator. I'll take care of this guy." The rest of Crimson nodded and ran into the generator ready to face the remaining Grunts and Jackals. James placed his Assault Rifle in his back and used his latest weapon he acquired…his own Energy Sword.

-"All right, lizard. Let's see what you got." The Elite roared at Crimson's leader and both of them collided their energy blades.

Meanwhile, Sam was sending the generator's location to Dalton so he could destroy it and Greg evaded an EMP blast.

-"Are we done yet?" Greg said while he shot at a Grunt that was trying to escape.

-"Yeah, this place's gonna blow up you better move your ass!" Sam ran away from the Generator.

-"Hey! Wait for me!" Greg yelled following her.

Meanwhile, James was blocking the constant slices from the Elite so when the Elite was about to make another attempt to slice, James ducked and made a roll to stand behind his opponent and stabbed his blade into the Elite's back.

-"Game…" Then he pulled his sword out and kicked the Zealot into the ground.

-"…Over." James finished and placed his Energy Sword back on his left lap. Then he saw his team running in his direction.

-"How did it go? Did you…" But Sam shut him up by dragging him with her.

-"Less talk, more cover!" Crimson threw themselves into the ground as Dalton's air attack succeeded.

-"Well done, Crimson." James said while he and his team were getting up. Greg placed his DMR back on his back.

-"Yeah, I can do this all day." While Sam was clearing the dust out of her armor.

-"Let's just go home." Then James called for extraction. Their mission was a success, but the next one would bring a new kind of enemy.

**To be continued…**


	4. The Challenge

**Chapter 4: The challenge**

**(A/N: Sorry for not updating in a long time. I was really busy with college and Xbox XD Anyway, hope you all will enjoy the new chapter.)**

Fireteams Crimson and Majestic have been dispatched into different locations of a Forerunner fortress. Commander Palmer made a little challenge, as she considered, to the Spartans on their respective missions. Who can clean their base from Prometheans first?

When Crimson arrived to their destination, they had the comms channel open so they could stay in contact with Infinity and Fireteam Majestic. Soon Commander Palmer ordered the challenge. James, besides his feeling of annoyance, heard the commentary from Paul DeMarco, the leader of Fireteam Majestic.

_"Yeah? And what do we win if we beat Crimson, Commander?" _Though James soon made a small smirk behind his helmet at Palmer's reply.

_"The respect of your peers, DeMarco. That should be an exciting new experience for you." _

Then Crimson was already near their target.

-"Okay….what do we do now, James?" Greg asked.

-"Awaiting further instructions, Greg." But nothing sounded on the comms except static.

_-"….ca….anyo….me?...Crimson…." _James tried to find another comms channel but nothing worked.

-"I can't hear anything." Sam looked at the surroundings of the Fortress and she found something that looked like an array. Most likely a comm jammer.

-"Guys I think I know what happened. There's a jammer over there." James and Greg looked into the direction Sam was pointing.

-"Okay Crimson, our primary target now's to take down that jammer." Sam and Greg nodded. The jammer was near the fortress which was down the cliff Crimson was standing. Soon they landed near the jammer but as soon as they set their feet on the snowy ground. Some sort of electric energy started to emit from different points of the ground. Then some sort of robotic dogs rose from those points and started to shoot at Crimson. Greg evaded a shot that was going directly at his head.

-"Crimson, take cover!" The three Spartans took cover behind the jammer.

-"What the hell are those things!?" James asked and Sam shrugged her shoulders.

-"No idea. But most likely Prometheans." Then she started to shoot her Storm Rifle at those creatures, James did the same with his Magnum and Greg with his DMR. When Greg shot at one of the in its mouth the creature exploded.

-"Guys, shoot them in their faces. We can kill them easier!" James nodded and he shot three bullets at three Prometheans.

-"Sam, go! Disable the jammer! We'll cover you!" Sam nodded and she found the controls of the jammer. Once its signal was down, Crimson got back the signals from Majestic and the Infinity.

_-"Commander! Majestic and Crimson comm signals are back."_

_-"About time! Good work, teams. Now then, let the games begin." _James loaded his Assault Rifle and his Magnum Pistol

-"Okay, Crimson. Let's finish this. I wanna win this challenge and beat DeMarco and his team!" Then he ran into their new objective. Sam and Greg only looked at each other and then at the direction where their leader went, Greg had a confused look under his helmet.

-"He takes his rivalry with DeMarco really serious, doesn't he?" Sam only face-palmed herself.

-"Sometimes…James can be so childish." Then both of them followed James and soon more Prometheans arrived. Before the Prometheans could appear, Spartan Miller gave Crimson an advice.

_-"Crimson, looks like your first contact with the Prometheans. These are crawlers, fast and mean, but pretty easy to deal with."_

-"Yeah, we're aware of that. Spartan Miller." Greg said and he started to shoot at the crawlers. Then many portals appeared in the sky and the Watchers came out.

-"Ugh! Crimson, change of objective! Take the Watchers out!" Crimson took all the Watchers that came out before they could activate turrets or another squad of Crawlers. Then James spotted the tower near their position and another one in 200 meters of distance.

-"Okay. Sam, get the first tower. I'll get the second one. Greg, cover us from a grenade position!" As James and Sam ran into the towers. Greg threw a Grenade near three Crawlers and another Watcher that were heading to James' position.

-"Thanks for the assist!" Greg only made a thumbs up.

-"Keep it up, boss!" Then James and Sam reached the two towers and disabled their beacons. James noticed a pack of Crawlers closing on him so he threw a Frag grenade at one of them and he used his Thruster Pack to exit the explosion range.

-"Crimson, let's go!" Greg nodded and followed him but Sam was having some problems getting rid of the Crawlers and a Watcher.

-"Just give me a minute!" Then she placed a Plasma grenade at the face of a Crawler and threw it at the Watcher.

When she joined her team they were moving to their next tower. Then they heard a transmission from Majestic.

_-"Haven't heard from you in a while, DeMarco."_

Then many shots and explosion could be heard through the comms channel.

_\- "Just having a discussion with the locals, Commander."_

Then Crimson smirked when they heard what Commander Palmer said:

_-"FYI. Crimson's gaining on you."_

By the time Crimson reached the top of the tower, many Watchers appeared from the sky and they started to place Focus Turrets.

-"Look out!" Greg yelled as he pushed his teammates away but the shot got him.

-"Greg!" Both James and Sam exclaimed but they were relieved when they saw him standing up.

-"It's nothing. I only need a few seconds to regain the shields." When they ran to take cover from the turret they heard another transmission.

_-"Second tower down, Commander." _

_\- "Crimson's way ahead of you, DeMarco." _

_-"We'll catch up, Commander." _

The most probable outcome was to be that Majestic would beat Crimson in this challenge. James got to think of it. His childish rivalry with Majestic got one of his teammates hurt and corned them unable to reach the next target. He needed to rectify this outcome.

-"Okay, we're gonna stay here and try to select our shots…screw the challenge. I'm not risking your safety." Sam and Greg were surprised by James' words. Sam looked at her leader and big brother-like figure.

_-"Well, I must admit I'm a little disappointed about our defeat on this challenge and his …but it's good to see that James is growing up." _She thought until Greg grabbed something.

-"Don't say that yet, boss." Then he showed James some sort of metallic cubes with orange energy on the corners.

-"Hey, that looks like one of the cubes I told Sam to investigate." Then Greg threw it at the Focus turret that was corning them and it released an explosive pulse wave of energy destroying it.

-"Yep, she discovered these are Forerunner grenades called Pulse grenades." Then James noticed a free pass to the beacon of their target.

-"Ha-ha! Guess we're still in the challenge! C'mon, Crimson! Move your butts!" Then James headed to the other beacon and Sam rolled her eyes beneath her helmet.

_-"Then again, I can get wrong." _

Soon, the leader of Fireteam Crimson deactivated the last beacon and Miller's voice could be heard through the comms.

_-"Crimson has disabled all systems, Commander."_

_\- "Good show. Marking an evac location for you now."_

Then James' smirk turned larger when he heard DeMarco's complains.

_-"Oh, come on! Crimson's base can't have had the defenses our's did!"_

_-"You're right, DeMarco. Crimson had more to deal with than you."_

-"Well, guess that's it. Now we better…" Before Sam could finish her sentence. A Focus Turret took a shot and it destroyed Sam's Storm Rifle and also Greg's Magnum.

-"Blast!" Greg exclaimed and Sam threw a Plasma Grenade at the Turret, the she was angry with annoyance.

-"Are you freaking kidding me!? That's the second weapon I lose this week!" James then shot two Prime Crawlers in their heads with his Magnum and saw Two Suppressor rifles on the ground and he kicked them near his teammates and they started to shoot at the remaining Watchers…Then a couple of them had started to create a pack of Crawlers and they started to shoot at Crimson.

-"Is this ever gonna end!?" Sam exclaimed and then a Crawler shot a Pulse Grenade near Sam and Greg. The explosion caused major damage on their armors. James tried to help them but a Crawler shot him with a charged Boltshot and took his shields out and cracked his visor.

-"Damned dog!" Then James punched the Crawler and curb stomped its head. Soon he kneeled to the ground since he was weaken for the attacks of the Prometheans, then Greg helped him to get up.

-"We did it, boss." James nodded at his teammate's saying, then Dalton had send a Pelican to retrieve them. Once inside the Pelican, Sam took of her helmet.

-"This was really tough…but at least we beat the challenge." Sam rolled her eyes at Greg's comment.

-"We almost died because of that foolish challenge." James only chuckled.

-"But we didn't, did we? Now, once we're back on the Infinity. You two need a new set of armor and I need a new visor. But we're gonna need to be more careful and train harder if we're gonna survive another Promethean assault."

**To be continued….**


	5. You can relax, the Spartans are here

**Chapter 5: You can relax, the Spartans are here**

Throughout the last weeks, Fireteam Crimson improved a lot in the efficiency of their mission after their encounter with the Prometheans. Also, two of the Spartans of Crimson had to 'Upgrade' their armors since their original versions got destroyed by a Pulse Grenade. Now, Samantha wore a Recruit helmet similar to her commander's. She wore a Wetwork SHRD chest armor, Pioneer ADPT shoulder plates, Outer-Plated forearms and RG-63 Counter legs. Her colors were still brown with cyan stripes, and her visor color was cyan.

Greg's armor was the same armor chest, the same forearms and the same leg armor parts, except for his shoulders that were now Oceanic and his Helmet was an Enforcer Helmet, his visor and armor color were fully green.

And since James only lost his blue visor, his armor was still the same except that his symbol now was a red Spartan eagle and his visor color was golden.

Now they were tasked with to bring support to the Hacksaw squad. The marines were pinned down on the exact Forerunner temple where Crimson had their first contact with the Prometheans a few weeks ago. The Pelican that carried the Spartans landed close to the temple, for it could not afford to be taken out by the Covenant forces in the area. Meanwhile, Hacksaw was forced to retreat into the insides of the towers that were once used as beacons for the Prometheans.

_-"Infinity, this is Hacksaw! We're getting hit hard on all sides! We need reinforcements, ordnance…hell I'd settle for a straight up evac right now."_

_-"Man up hacksaw. Reinforcements inbound…Crimson, it's a straight forward rescue Op. If it's UNSC, save its ass. If it's a Covie, blast it to hell."_

James loaded his Assault Rifle as he looked at his teammates.

-"Okay, Crimson. We got our orders let's save those marines." Sam loaded her Supressor Rifle as did Greg, when they left the Pelican they spotted a weapon crate in front of them and they armed themselves with any powerful weapon. James took a Shotgun, Sam took a SAW and Greg took a Rocket Launcher.

-"You know James, we may not be able to save them all." James only twitched his eye beneath his helmet at Greg's commentary, Sam placed a hand on her leader's shoulder.

-"He's right. There's a lot of Covies here." Then the red Spartan turned around to face his teammates.

-"It may be true, but we must try to save them all. Blast it, we're Spartans! And as long as a Spartan like me is around…nobody dies." With that, he left to assist the first group of marines, Greg only sighed and he followed his leader alongside Sam.

-"He's really something, isn't he?" Sam knew that was sarcasm.

-"He's my hero." She said with obvious sarcasm in her tone.

_-"Commander Palmer, I'm painting the locs of Marines calling for assistance."_

The Grunts were gaining entrance into the tower where the marines were holding their ground. Before they got blasted by plasma rounds, they heard the sounds of automated weapons being shot. When they peeked around they saw Spartan James-310 breaking a Grunt's neck.

-"There's our ride home, marines!"

-"Hell yes!"

Then more enemy reinforcements arrived, but they were send flying away by a shot of a Rocket Launcher, the Marines saw that the rest of Crimson arrived in time.

With the first group of Marines safe, Crimson moved into the next one but they were met by two Hunters and a Grunt driving a Ghost. Sam loaded her SAW and looked at her teammates.

-"I'll take care of the little guy, you two take care of the big ones." James, upon hearing Sam's advice, faked his tone with mockery.

-"I'm the leader, I give the orders." Sam only chuckled at her leader's commentary, then she used her jetpack to fly above the Ghost while it was moving. She fired her SAW and killed the Grunt in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile Greg used his active camouflage to distract the Hunter he was fighting. The creature, unknown of the Spartan's location, started to shoot anywhere; probably hoping that one of them would hit its target. But it was in vain for Greg shot it down with two rockets.

-"Pff! Dumb wormed freak."

And James was also distracting the Hunter he was fighting, every time the big creature tried to strike him with its big armored arm, James used his Thruster Pack to move away and end up behind it. Since the Hunters' weak spot is the back, Spartan-310's Shotgun was perfect for the job, a couple of rounds and soon the Hunter fell down.

With that threat eliminated, Crimson proceeded to the next group of Marines who were under fire from Grunts and Jackals.

-"Next objective reached. Crimson! Take 'em down and form a perimeter!" James ordered to his team.

-"Roger that." Both Sam and Greg affirmed that order. James took all the Grunts down with a single Frag Grenade and Sam shot the Jackals with her Suppressor Rifle, meanwhile the Marines saw the Spartans' awesome work.

-"Look! Spartans! We're saved!"

Then Crimson received a transmission from Spartan Miller.

_-"Heads up! Drop pod Incoming!"_

Then many Grunts and three Elites landed.

-"Spartans! Take 'em out and keep the Marines out from enemy fire!"

-"Roger!"

James was taking care of the Grunts with his Assault Rifle as was Greg with his DMR, meanwhile Sam was facing the Elites since her SAW was more efficient in taking out the Elites' shields. Once the targets were destroyed, Crimson proceeded to the next group of Marines.

-"Hey! It's Spartans!"

-"Aw hell yeah!"

But once again another enemy drop pod arrived to keep Crimson from saving the Marines. Greg shot another rocket of the Rocket Launcher but he ran out of shots.

-"Cover me, I'm reloading!" James nodded.

-"Copy that." Then he shot with his Shotgun to two Jackals that were loading up a Plasma charge.

-"Enemy reinforcements!" Sam exclaimed.

-"Spartans! We got a Wraith!" A Marine exclaimed as well. James threw a Grenade near the Jackals that were next the Wraith.

-"Greg, I need that Rocket launcher now!"

-"No can do, sir! This thing is empty!"

James cursed silently.

-"Agh! Alright, leave the damn thing! Sam, you're coming with me, I'll be the diversion so you take it out!" Sam reloaded her Suppressor Rifle.

-"My pleasure."

-"Good. Greg, keep an eye out for Hacksaw!"

-"Copy! Moving into position!"

Then the Wraith spotted the leader of Fireteam Crimson running to its side so the Wraith's gunner started to shoot at him while the Spartan was evading the shots with his Thruster Pack. But the Covies driving the tank did not know that it was all according to plan so Spartan Samantha-140 would run to the other side until she could reach the back of the Wraith.

-"I'm in position! Planting frag, get to cover!" When she placed her grenade inside the Wraith's engine it exploded within two seconds.

-"Yeah!" Sam exclaimed. –"It never stood a chance!"

-"Guys, enemy reinforcements at my location! I need support! NOW!" Greg exclaimed as well.

-"Solid copy. Hang tight, we're on our way!" James reloaded his weapons and he placed them on his back and took out his Energy Sword as he and Sam were rushing into their teammate's location.

As for Greg and Hacksaw squad, they were taking fire from Elites. The Marines took two of 'em down but the remaining five were more difficult to take out. Greg punched one of the Grunts that were alongside the Elites and he blew the brains out of another one.

-"Private! Six o' clock!" the Marine heard the Spartan's warning and saw an Elite getting close to him with an Energy Sword but he was lucky enough to have a Shotgun in his hands, which he shot at the Elite.

-"Yeah!"

-"Careful!"

When the marine turned around, he saw another one with another Sword about to kill him but the slash was blocked by another Energy Sword, which was being held by Spartan James.

-"Marine! Get out of the way, now!"

-"Yes sir!"

Then the Spartan pushed the Elite aside and slashed its abdomen, making a huge wound in it. Then he shot it with his Shotgun.

Meanwhile Greg used a Battle Rifle to take out the Jackal snipers above the structure.

-"All clear."

Then a message from Spartan Miller arrived.

_-"Alright Crimson your rides inbound fall back to the LZ."_

-"Good. Crimson and Hacksaw, I just got orders from Spartan Miller. The evac Pelican is inbound. ETA five minutes, let's get into the top of the structure to wait for evacuation." All the Marines shouted a "yes sir!" at the leader of Fireteam Crimson.

As soon as they arrived to the evac zone, another transmission from Spartan miller arrived.

_-"Ohh, this is bad."_

_-"Spit it out Miller." _Palmer asked.

_-"Phantoms. Multiple inbound on Crimson's position."_

_-"Multiple?" _Dalton asked, joining the conversation.

_-"Well that's hardly fair. They'll need way more than that if they're gonna beat Crimson." _

-"Great. We don't have enough firepower to destroy the upcoming Phantoms." Greg said but a Marine spoke up.

-"Sir, we have ammo crates left from earlier, they contain the firepower we need to fight back against the Phantoms." James opened on of them and he found a Spartan Laser.

-"Nice. Okay, listen up. I and the rest of the Spartans will take care of the Phantoms. While you Marines, you must hold this point no matter what. Knowing the Covies, they will deploy at least a small group of infantry. So if we want to destroy the Phantoms fast, you must stop the enemy infantry from reaching our location. Understand?" All the marines made a salute.

-"YES SIR!"

-"Good. Let's get to work." Then James gave his shotgun to a private.

Soon, the Phantoms arrived and, just as James predicted, one of them delivered enemy ground forces.

-"All right, marines! You all heard Spartan James! Let's get these ugly suckers some hurt!" The Sarge shouted and the rest of the Marines shouted a "Hoora!" The Elites started to rush against them and the Marines started to destroy them.

-"Keep it up! We can't lose!"

Then the last Elite tackled the Sarge and it roared at him, but the Private, who got James' Shotgun, shot it and killed it.

-"Nice work, son."

-"Thank you, sir."

Meanwhile, Fireteam Crimson was taking care of the last Phantom. Greg shot another beam of his Spartan Laser until it ran out of energy.

-"I'm out! Cover me, I need to find another one." Sam shot a beam of her Spartan Laser at the Phantom's Turret.

-"How tough is that thing?!" James evaded the last shot of the Phantom's turret.

-"Keep it up, we're almost done!"

Then the three Spartans fired their weapons at the same time and the Phantom exploded.

James ordered Hacksaw Squad to regroup at his team's location, soon the extraction Pelican arrived as Commander Palmer contacted Crimson again.

_-"Nice work keeping Hacksaw in one piece, Crimson."_

James, Sam and Greg threw away their Spartan Lasers since they were out of energy and Greg looked at the Marines and started to count them.

-"Wow…"

-"What is it?" Sam asked.

-"We managed to keep them alive…all of them."

-"We did?"

James approached his team and gave both Sam and Greg a small punch in their arms.

-"Ha! Didn't I tell you, guys? As long as a Spartan like me is around, nobody dies."

-"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

-"Anyway, let's go home."

Then Fireteam Crimson, alongside Hacksaw squad, entered the Pelican and headed back to the Infinity.

**To be continued…**


	6. Farewell to a proud Spartan

**Chapter 6: Farewell to a proud Spartan**

Crimson's Pelican was reaching their destination on what the Spartans now call it the 'Sniper alley'. Inside the dropship, the three Spartans of Fireteam Crimson were loading their weapons. For the first time ever, James changed his classic loadout for a different one. His weapons were a Battle Rifle, a Plasma Pistol, a couple of frag grenades and a Highlight Shield. Once Crimson's leader finished loading his weapons, he turned to look at his team.

-"Okay, Spartans…" James said. "As you know, we're being sent to discover the whereabouts of Gargarin science team. Sam, the coordinates." He ordered the female Spartan, who took out a small holographic map. Once it ignited, it showed the very same Sniper alley.

-"According to the coordinates that command gave us. The entrance to Gargarin's last known position is inside the structure." Samantha said and Greg took a look to it.

-"Well, it points to the Refuge. We were there in one of our previous missions, right?" Nodding at Greg's question, James pointed at the beginning of the structure that leads to the entrance to the Refuge.

-"If I'm right, there's gonna be a lot of Covie snipers here…well, according to what Intel says." Then the ship started to shake.

_-"Spartans, hang on! We're under heavy enemy fire." _The pilot that piloted Crimson's Pelican informed.

-"You think there are AA guns down there?!" Greg asked as he was holding the edge of his seat.

-"Probably!" James shouted as the outer explosions were louder and louder. Then an explosion had pop out from the floor next to James.

-"WHOA!" James exclaimed as he heard the pilot's warning.

_-"We're hit! Mayday! Mayday! Crimson's Pelican has been hit! We're going down!"_

Before the Pelican crashed into the ground, James noticed a lot of sparks coming out from the wall behind Sam, the engines of the right sided wing were exactly behind that door and they were about to blow up.

-"Sam, move!" James exclaimed as he pushed his fellow Spartan and the wall exploded the moment he pushed her away. And then, the Pelican crash-landed on the middle of the entrance to the canyon.

Greg opened his eyes and he could hear merely whispers, his vision was blurry and his head was hurting a lot. When his vision and hearing were back to normal he could hear Sam's voice.

-"Greg! Greg, talk to me. Are you ok?" Samantha asked as she grabbed Greg's hand and helped him to get up.

-"Yeah…so far so good." Greg said. And then he looked around and he couldn't find his leader.

-"Have you seen James?" Sam shook her head at her teammate's question.

-"I'm here!"

Both Spartan turned to their side and saw their leader deep beneath the rubbles of the Pelican. Gregory and Sam removed them and they helped James up.

-"Boss! Are you alright?" He only nodded at Sam's question. Then James grabbed his Battle Rifle and looked around.

-"Where's the pilot?" James asked as Greg headed to the Pelican's cockpit. He brought the cabin out and he noticed the pilot still sitting on the pilot's seat. He placed his fingers on the pilot's neck to feel a pulse but he felt nothing.

-"Pilot's gone." Greg informed and James sighed.

-"Okay, looks like the crash messed up the comms. So we're on our own here. " But the affirmation of Crimson's leader proved to be wrong when they could hear the signal from Commander Palmer and Spartan Miller.

_-"What the hell brought them down?"_

_-"AA guns in the area."_

-"Well, they can pick up our IFF tags. Where to now?" James looked around as he found the way into the refuge.

-"We stick to the plan, Greg." Then the three Spartan headed towards the road they once walked. As they passed through they encountered lots of Covenant assault squads as well as Jackal Snipers holding the front and the entrance to the refuge.

Once they got there, it was awfully quiet. There was no sign of any Covies, Prometheans nor Gargarin team.

-"It's awfully quiet here." Sam's observation made James a little nervous. He tried the comms channel but to no avail.

-"Comms are down again. I guess we're all on our own." Greg scoffed at his leader report of comms. Why couldn't things go right for once?

Then, all of the sudden, the lights were killed off and there was darkness all around the Spartans. They loaded their guns as they could expect anything. Suddenly, the lights returned but at a small intensity.

-"Ok…this is spooky." Sam commented and James nodded in agreement.

-"Alright, Crimson. Stay together and keep your eyes open." James ordered but as soon as he said so, a sound of loud steps echoed throughout the refuge.

-"You guys hear that? Let's check it out!" Greg exclaimed and then he rushed into the origin of the sound.

-"Greg, wait!" Sam shouted as she and James tried to catch their teammate. When they catch up with him, they were keeping their sights open until they heard growl and something picked Greg from the neck, chocking him.

-"Greg!" James shouted then he and Sam started to shoot at the assaulter, who still remained in the shadows. But their shots were bouncing off it. Without losing any more chances and not risking more time for his teammate who was being chocked. James tried to punch the assaulter while Sam jumped and tried to stab it with her combat knife. But both Spartans were sent away with a single swing from their enemy's arm.

Yet, Greg managed to break free of its grip and stabbed it with his own knife in the chest. Apparently he did hurt it for he could hear a pain roar but this thing managed to grab Greg by his arm and it broke it.

-"Gaaaaahh!"

The green Spartan wasn't able to move his left arm anymore, and then this creature stabbed its metal claws in his stomach.

-"No!" Sam shouted as she could see how her teammate was being impaled by claws. She grabbed a plasma grenade she had and threw it at the creature. The explosion did not killed it, but it damaged it enough for Greg to get free of its grasp again. Yet the fall to the ground made him lose his helmet. Quickly, James grabbed his teammate by the back of his collar armor and started to drag him away while Sam retreated as well providing cover fire, but Greg wasn't out yet. He took out his sidearm and started to shoot and empty the clip on this newly found enemy.

-"Infinity! This fireteam Crimson! Something hit us! Spartan Greg is down, we need immediate extraction now!" James shouted but the comms were not working yet. As they managed to retreat, the creature stepped out of the shadows. It was an Elite, around the rank of a general but he seemed different. This one had a Forerunner armor and a golden glowing energy sword. As it walked slowly it stomped and crushed Greg's helmet. Then it spoke in Sangheili.

_-"Yes…run humans. You shall not escape nor hide for long. Hunt them down!"_

As he said those words, tons of Crawlers stepped out of the shadows and rushed to find the Spartans.

Meanwhile, the three Spartans managed to get behind cover inside the last location where there was a distress beacon from Gargarin team, luckily for them there were a lot of UNSC ordnance around to fortify a defensive perimeter. They scavenged all they could of grenades and ammunition, also they blocked the entries to the lab by placing barricades to keep the Prometheans and the promethean Elite away. James was keeping a lookout for any hostiles that might enter while Sam was trying to patch Greg up.

-"How bad?" James asked while Sam just sighed.

-"Not good. The piercing is too deep, his stomach's been hit and he's suffering internal bleeding." Sam reported and Greg let out a faint groan of pain. James knelt down to take a look at the wound. Sam had patched him up enough to stop the bleeding temporarily, but it wouldn't be enough.

-"There, I've done all I could. It's not much but it's something." Sam said catching her breath, her leader simply placed his hand on her shoulder and nodded, she nodded back.

-"Thank you, Sam." James replied and then both saw Greg opening his eyes.

-"Ugh…guys?" Greg whispered and both his teammates helped him sit down.

-"Easy, buddy. You've been hit." James said and then Greg looked down and saw his chest covered in blood.

-"I managed to stop your bleeding. But it's not gonna be enough, James already contacted Infinity though it was hard. We'll get an extraction in 20 minutes. We just have to hold on until then." Sam said and Greg nodded.

-"I know you're not in your best moment, pal. But we're gonna need you to move and fight all you can." James said and Greg simply nodded.

-"Alright. Let's do it." Greg said but James pushed him away and used his Hardlight Shield to block the shot of an Incineration Cannon. Luckily, none of them were hurt so they opened fire as many crawlers and Knights blasted through the barricades and attacked Crimson.

-"Watch your six!" Sam shouted as Greg evaded a shot from a Crawler and destroyed it with his DMR. Sam had taken a Battle Rifle and started to destroy all the incoming Crawlers she could see. James had used his plasma pistol to disable the shields of the knights and then he threw a frag grenade at them.

-"_Enough!_"

Then a promethean force push destroyed the Spartans weapons, and from the air came down the Promethean Elite, his glowing golden energy sword in hand as he was getting close at killing the Spartans.

Sam soon saw in the middle of the scattered UNSC ordnance a small EMP generator. Without wasting time she took it and activated it, though the Prometheans had more advanced technology, it was still vulnerable to an EMP charge and so, the remaining Crawlers and Knights were disabled for a short period of time, as well as this newly Promethean Elite. Its armor did not respond nor move for a short time.

-"_How dare you, foul humans!? I will make you scream of pain until your voice reaches the stars!_"

-"It's not gonna hold them off much longer, we better head towards the EP now!" Sam shouted as she and James carried Greg towards the exit where an extraction pelican will rendezvous with them. As they made their way towards it. James noticed a couple of high intensity explosives, he picked them up and carried them with him. The explosion was strong enough to level the entire refuge and anything or anyone inside it.

-"Come on, we're almost there." James exclaimed but Greg fell down to the ground as his wound started to bleed. James and Samantha tried to pick him up but before they got close to him, he threw a plasma grenade on a structure above them, making it explode and fall in front of them. Separating him from them.

-"Gregory! What the hell are you doing!?" James shouted through comms.

-"Sorry, guys. It's obvious that I'm not gonna make it…and those things are awfully getting closer. I'm only gonna slow you down…but I can buy you some time." Greg said as he stood up and took a deep breath before slowly walking towards a mounted turret and detached it.

-"Greg, you listen to me, you idiot! You're not gonna play the hero role, you hear me? We're going to get you out of there now!" Sam shouted through comms but Greg simply chuckled.

-"Sorry, Samantha. But I have to do this…it's been an honor serving with you guys." Greg said before he shut off comms from his end. James and Samantha tried to remove all the rubble and tried to reach their comrade.

But Greg saw hordes of Prometheans closing by and he kept shooting at them with the turret. But then knights started to show as well as the Promethean Elite.

-"This isn't good. There's got to be another way." Greg thought as he took cover, but his wound was bleeding tremendously.

Meanwhile James and Sam still tried to each Greg.

-"James, we won't get there in time. We need strong firepower to open this!" Sam said and James nodded.

-"I recovered some explosives. We can use them, to-" James said but then he realized the bombs were gone. Gregory must've taken them.

-"That son of a bitch." James cursed and then both he and Sam were spotted by a Pelican's flashlight.

-"_Fireteam Crimson, we have you in sight. Prepare for imminent extraction._"

Meanwhile, Gregory kept firing on the knights but they were being guarded by Hardlight shields developed by Watchers. Then he saw the Promethean elite dashing towards him. Greg threw the turret away and tried to run back but the Knights shot him in the back with Scattershots and the Elite grabbed him by the shoulder and stabbed his energy sword in his back. Then he dropped the Spartan next to the explosives he stole from James.

The Elite laughed as it managed to speak in English.

-"_Now…you burn in hell, human._"

Greg turned around as he grabbed the explosives detonator and chuckled before spitting blood in the Elite's face.

-"I'll see you there." Greg said as he pressed the button and the explosives ignited.

*_**KABOOOOM!**_*

The explosion was visible throughout the outside as the Pelican that extracted James and Sam was close to it. Both Spartans saw the explosion.

-"No…" Sam whispered before she sat down on her seat. James kept watching the fire, his fist started to shake…his friend, his teammate…is gone. Spartan Gregory-655 was gone, he sacrificed himself for his fellow Spartans and destroyed a formidable enemy that the UNSC would not fight anymore. Sam got up and placed her hand on James' shoulder.

-"He always hated that place." James commented before Sam simply hugged him slightly from behind while he kept watching the fire.

There was no celebration of victory that day, only mourn. The UNSC lost a good Spartan...and James and Sam, they lost a friend and a brother.

**To be continued…**


End file.
